Some employers must provide special clothing to their employees, then collect and launder the clothing when it becomes soiled. Hospital scrubsuits are an example of such clothing. A problem associated with the use of scrubsuits is loss of inventory as a result of negligence, misuse and theft. Another problem is extra laundering of unused scrubsuits as a result of mishandling.
To avoid the labor costs and other disadvantages of staffed dispensing stations within a hospital, vending machines have been developed, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,985. This apparatus effectively solves the problems involved in vending flexible cloth items one at a time. The dispenser includes a processor that tracks the inventory within the machine as scrubsuits are removed, and limits users to a maximum number of withdrawals with a magnetic card or "PIN" number access system.
The clothing collection apparatus shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,713,270 and 5,829,349 also reduces inventory loss. Scrubsuits are checked in by the user, and a processor sends a credit to the user's account via a communications network. Thus, the return of a scrubsuit increases the scrubsuits available to that user from a scrubsuit vending machine also linked to the network. The apparatus also compacts the garments that are returned.
In large hospitals, placing individual dispenser units and receiving units at key locations has proved effective in controlling an inventory of scrubsuits. However, a system of separate dispensers and receiving units connected by a communications network may be too expensive for small hospitals, clinics, or hospital departments that need to maintain an inventory of scrubsuits independent of a large hospital organization. Thus, there is a need for a compact unit that can dispense and retrieve garments such as hospital scrubsuits.
Adapting the garment receiving apparatus of the unit shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,713,270 and 5,829,349 into a compact unit presents difficulties, because the collection compartment into which the garments are compacted is located directly below the compacting mechanism. Thus, the volume of clothing that the collection area can hold is limited by the height and width of the unit. To increase the capacity of a garment collection compartment, a compaction system is needed that can move and compact garments into a laterally extending collection compartment.